Honors Program - Contract
The purpose of SUNY Canton’s Honors program is to attract and retain academically gifted students and provide them with an outstanding educational experience. The Honors program is designed to enhance student’s academic and personal growth. All Honors program students are required to abide by the following requirements:
- Remain aware of Honors program information by checking their email and attending mandatory monthly meetings during the academic year.
- Maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA and attend class regularly.
- Complete a minimum of five Honors Courses for students in a four-year degree program.
- Complete a minimum of three Honors Courses for students in a two-year degree program.
- In order for a non-honors course (with a minimum of 3 credit hours) to be credited as an honors course, students will be required to complete an honors project that comprises research, writing, and presentation components.
- Up to three courses or 9 hours of honors course credit (or equivalent) can be transferred in from another college. Honor transfer credit to be approved by Honors Committee.
- Attend Honors Program meetings and participate annually in the Scholarly Activities Celebration or Honors Symposium.
- Present (poster or oral) at Scholarly Activities Day, Honors Symposium, or some other approved forum (i.e. academic conference):
- 4 times for four-year degree
- 2 times for two-year degree
- Provide evidence of participation in community service, academic/scholarly activities or awards, and campus involvement outside of coursework. Students must be involved in:
- At least one school related group (club, organization, tutoring service, etc.) OR
- Community service effort or organization that is on volunteer bases
- Inform the Honors Program Coordinator whenever their address (including phone number and email) or academic major changes.
NOTE: A student must complete at least one Honors Course to be considered and official Honors Program Student. Prior to that, the student remains an Honors Candidate.
Once eligible and accepted for the Honors program, students are encouraged to seek out honors contract courses. An honors contract course includes:
- Non-honors courses can be turned into honors courses through contracts to help satisfy Honors program requirements.
- Agreement between a student and a faculty member.
- It provides an opportunity for a student to complete an independent project in a non-honors class by further exploring related topics in an existing class.
In general, honors contract courses satisfy more rigorous standards than are generally expected by the non-honors syllabus. An honors contract course should delve more deeply into the subject matter for the course addressing more sophisticated questions and methods. While the honors modifications to the course should fit within the content and intent of the course’s learning outcomes, the character and quality of the assignment should be augmented. Simply increasing the volume of work required does not constitute an honors activity; whenever possible, the honors assignments should be done as an alternative to some or all of the regular course assignments. An honors contract course should provide planned opportunities for the student to meet with the instructor to review, discuss, and revise, as needed, the honors components of the course.